Favorite Reads of Q3 2026

 

 Not as many books as usual to cite in Q3, mostly due to the research needed for returning to the Penns River series and wanting to re-acquaint myself with procedure.

 

Stick, Elmore Leonard. If you want to introduce someone previously unfamiliar to Leonard’s work, Stick is as good a place as any. This was my first reading, and it felt like visiting an old friend. Everything that made Leonard Leonard is here and artfully executed.

 

400 Things Cops Know and Police Craft, Adam Plantinga. I meant to skim these, as I’ve read both several times. Wound up re-reading them virtually cover to cover. If Plantinga ever tires of writing best-selling fiction – and I see no reason he should – he could make a nice living as lecturer/stand-up comic. Both books are full of information TV and movies should be more familiar with while being laugh out loud funny. Even if you have only a casual interest in police work, they’re fun; for crime writers they should be required.

 

Fire in the Hole and Other Stories, Elmore Leonard. I don’t remember what brought me back to Leonard so quickly; probably something to do with the TV show Justified, which was based on the short story “Fire in the Hole.” Whatever it was, this was time well spent. I read this collection when it was first released under the title When the Women Come Out to Dance and found it just as satisfying the second time around. I mentioned above that Stick was a good entry point for those unfamiliar with Leonard’s work. This collection may be where to start if you’re interested and not all that much into crime, as several stories have little or no criminal activity.

 

The Score, Richard Stark. I am routinely amazed when reminded the same man who wrote the Dortmunder comedic novels also write the Parker heist stories. Parker is the ultimate pragmatist/sociopath, carefully analyzing each job before accepting it, then doing whatever is necessary to bring about a satisfactory conclusion. For him. While he will some consideration to those he knows and trusts, his first and middle names could well be “Collateral Damage.” The writing is as smooth and unobtrusive as one would expect, with occasional bits of dry humor. I’ll be back.